Hue Jackson brushes off report of dissension

On Monday, a report emerged on a certain online information portal indicating that the honeymoon is over for Raiders coach Hue Jackson. On Tuesday, Jackson had a chance to address the situation.

“Do you believe all those things that are written?” Jackson told KNBR, via SportsRadioInterviews.com. “I don’t – and here’s the deal – and I understand when everybody thinks football decisions are made here that I make them by myself. One, I don’t. Number two, I don’t worry about what everyone else is saying. I can only worry about what I know is going on.

“It’s like anything else when things are not going as well it’s easy to all of sudden have all these spins. Two weeks ago, things were going great and there was none of these things being said. You start to lose a couple of games, and that comes with the territory. I understand that. I respect that. But we don’t have a problem in our locker room. We don’t have a problem with this team. Hue Jackson is the head coach of this team and trying to get this team as good as he can.”

It’s a good thing that he chose to go third person, since going third person usually operates as conclusive proof that a guy hasn’t allowed his power or status go to his head.

“Sometimes you hit a few bumps,” Jackson added. “We’ve hit them right now, and unfortunately we have. That’s not what any of us want. I mean, we got off to a great start and now in the middle of this thing we are having some bumps and bruises. Well, what we are going to do is stay consistent and stay the course. We know exactly what we need to do and how we need to do it. As I said to everybody I’m not going to make excuses when we lose. I think people would like for me to. But I’m not going to do that. That’s just part of this deal in the National Football League. We gonna stay to the grind. We are going to keep working at it and we are going to get this thing better and get to it where I know it can get to. That’s what the plan is.”

That’s the right approach. And Jackson never, ever would have conceded that he has too much power or that the power has gone to his head or that some of the players in the locker room are grumbling about the manner in which he is running the team. Still, he knows that talk like this is tied to losing, and that the best way to end it is to win.

Now, the challenge for Jackson will be to figure out how to pull off a key road victory in the face of this adversity, on Thursday night in San Diego.

Raiders ain’t winning Thursday night. Not against a team with that bile in their mouth that’ll have two RBs that will wear that 3rd worst in the league run defense down all night. May be a good under play this Thursday. Except for Palmer interceptions…take the over.

Hue is right to brush off a report that isn’t sourced of dissension in the locker room. First, none of the Raider beat writers have heard anything that would indicate these are true and they would be the first to know. Second, Hue is right that had the Raiders been able to pull out a win in the last two games, none of this stuff would be coming out. Rumors like this are almost always from some disgruntled agent or former player anyway. The Raiders have had some seriously bad luck the last three weeks, first with Campbell going down, then McFadden and McClain and then, less reported, but just as important, their best DE Matt Shaughnessy going down for the year. The fact is, all teams have to deal with injuries, the Raiders just had theirs come all at once. To Hue’s credit, he hasn’t whined or complained about it, he’s just said next man up. Now, they just need to pull it together Thursday night and win to shut all the naysayers up.

Hue can say all the right things he wants, in fact that is ALL he does. The truth is he has had lousy game plans the last two games and that is a bad sign. When you don’t feature your number one WR in the game plan something is wrong. It seems to me that Hue prefers to play favorites with his team and that is not good. I still think the Raiders have a good shot against SD but I just have a bad feeling about Hue and his tactics.

Jason Campbell was your franchise. Not sure why you thought you needed to go out and screw up you draft picks to pick up worthless Palmer. He proved that he is washed up while in Cincinnati. I have to deal with that same scenario since the Skins let Campbell go for another washed up veteran in McNabb.

Hopefully the Raiders lose out, then Mark and Amy have no choice but to do whatever it takes to bring Jon and Bruce back,..I for one as a Raider fan hope they lose out, and lose out in blowout fashion…clean house.

The Raiders had the perfect QB in Jason Campbell. Sure he’s not elite, but he’s a game manager. When you combine that with the running game and the defense, he’s the perfect fit.

The Raiders panicked when Campbell got hurt and after watching Boller, I can see why. But I’m not sure Palmer is a good fit. I know it’s only been two games but I don’t think he’s going to help them much this year.

If they’re smart, they’ll keep Palmer and Campbell and have a competition to see who fits best.

In 2002, the Raiders started 4-0, then went 0-4 and the same thing was happening in the media. They finished 11-5 and made it to the super bowl. You never know what can happen in a 16 game season. This is character building stuff.

Jackson should be in trouble…how the heck do you explain COMPLETELY taking out your #1 WR threat Heywood-Bey and having him on the field for 12 plays after averaging 100 yards the previous 4 weeks….this is why the Raiders lose…

I think we all agree that the trade for Palmer was retarded. BUT, you cannot put it all on the QB. It has more to do with Darren McFadden. The Raiders win when he plays. And they lose when he doesn’t. That includes this Thursday Night.

This is why Al Davis would have never let Tom Cable make trades. Hue is proving that not only is he a horrible GM but also not much of a coach either. He will destroy the franchise for the forseeable future and long after he’s gone, which may be sooner rather than later. Hate to say it but Oakland is going to get punked in San Diego leading to the inevitable annual unravelling of the team and yet another season circling the drain.

So the wrap before was that the coach’s were never empowered because all the guys could just go straight to Al, causing the “locker room rift”. Now Al’s gone and there is still a problem? WTF? Sounds to me like guys spend too much time in the locker room and not enough time on the field.

I thought Heywood-Bey was a bust … according to all of you … now he is a #1 WR … make up your mind.
Jason Campbell is now an elite QB … give me a break … he was benched in his first few games as a Raiders starter after a full training camp. He only has 19 TDs passes in 19 games … WOW that will win you alot of games and take you to the playoffs.

According to all of you … forgot about Andrew Luck … EVERY team will be lining up to sign Campbell next year … epic fail.